Revealing the Layers – Meet the Artists Series
Printmaking processes challenge the creation of artistic vision while at the same time offering a wide range of technical choices in which to render ideas. The artists in this exhibition were chosen to investigate how they chose their process and in that choice how they reveal the layering of one process over another to create their unique vision. Each artist has worked with a defined print process, but pushed the boundaries of its pure form to create multi-layered works that explore new territories of definition.
Jill Baratta begins with scans of brain x-rays that are manipulated on Mylar sheets to create solarplate etchings, further enhanced in their printed state with watercolor pencil drawings of food. The results are called “Brain Food.”
Janet Boltax who is known as a portrait painter turns to the simple, direct method of drypoint etching and layers line upon line with her dremel and sharpened needle to create eerie human-like portraits of primates.
Rayna Gillman works primarily on fabrics, dyeing, monoprinting, screening, stamping and collaging elements together to combine into elaborate narrative layers of meaning and exuberant color.
Miriam Stern takes photographs as a departure point, deconstructs them in Photoshop, and prints the collaged elements digitally. These form the basis of her multi layered monotypes and become the inspiration for large scale paintings.
As the viewer studies the works and moves through both the process and layering of ideas and technique, it is hoped that some of the mysteries of the print matrix are revealed and in that revelation comes both understanding and enjoyment.
Dorothy Cochran is a well known East Coast printmaker, acknowledged for her expertise and broad command of multiple print methods. She is a two time recipient of a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship and honored for her dedication to teaching and curatorial work for other artists. She is represented in both private and corporate art collections such as The New York Public Library, The Free Library of Philadelphia, Bristol Myers Squibb and Prudential Life Insurance Company and several museum collections including The Museum of Modern Art, The National Gallery of Art, Georgia Museum of Fine Art, and the Zimmerli Museum of Rutgers University.
Ms. Cochran has an MFA in Printmaking from Columbia University and a MA and BA from Montclair University. She was the Director/Curator of the Galleries at The Interchurch Center in New York City for 23 years and is the current Chair of Printmaking at The School of Art in Demarest, New Jersey and is an instructor at The Montclair Art Museum, Yard School of Art. She is currently a board member of The National Association of Women Artists.
The Print Matrix: Revealing the Layers
Exhibition Dates: November 4 – 28, 2010
Artist Reception: Thursday, November 4, 2010, 6 – 8 pm
Library Hours:
Monday – CLOSED
Tuesday 10am – 8pm
Wednesday 10am – 8pm
Thursday 10am – 8pm
Friday 10am – 6pm
Saturday 10am – 6pm
Sunday 12pm – 6pmMontclair Public Library
Address:
50 South Fullerton Ave.
Montclair, NJ 07042
Email: studiomontclair@aol.com
Website: www.studiomontclair.orgArtists Showing: Jill Baratta, Janet Boltax, Dorothy Cochran, Rayna Gillman and Miriam Stern